Word of the Day: Rubicund

Rubicund:  ROO-bi-kehnd

Part of speech:  adjective

Origin:  Latin, late 15^th century

1.  Having a red complexion

2.  Reddish in color

Examples used in a sentence:

1.  A good workout will leave you with a sweaty shirt, a rubicund face, and a better mood.

2.  The rubicund cruise ship passengers had clearly spent too much time in the sun with too little sunscreen.


About Rubicund

In an attempt to achieve a rubicund complexion, people have been applying red tint to their cheeks for centuries.  Before the blush you can buy at the drugstore, people would use products made from crushed mulberries, red sandalwood, carmine (harvested from insects), and beet juice.  Some of the early makeup products were extremely toxic, but others, such as carmine, are still used today.

Did You Know?

Rubicund is used almost exclusively to describe a red face.  Other words to describe complexion include swarthy (dark), bronzed, fair, florid and ruddy (both red) and jaundiced (yellow).  There are plenty of options to describe someone with sickly pale skin:  bloodless, pallid, pasty, and sallow.